Airport Police Are Trading 4 Wheels For 2

But when the Dallas/Ft. Worth Airport public safety officer takes to a two-wheeler at work, it won't be anything like his typical 40-mile training rides.

Haney, a 46-year-old sergeant with the airport's Department of Public Safety and a triathlete, is one of six officers who will patrol some of the 18,000-acre facility on mountain bikes as part of the department's shift to community policing.

"Where else can you do what you like and get paid for it and be effective?" Haney said of the bike patrols. "I fell in love with it instantly. It makes it closer for the public for us to be on bikes."

Community policing has been adopted by hundreds of cities and towns in recent years.

Few towns or cities, however, have as many people moving about as the Texas airport. In 1996, about 58 million people flew in or out of Dallas-Ft. Worth, and 38,500 airline and airport employees worked there, spokeswoman Angel Biasatti said.

Only Logan Airport in Boston, which is patrolled by Massachusetts state police, has a similar program in the works, said airport Police Chief Tom Shehan.

The bicycle is just one tool airport police will use to implement community policing, the chief said.

Officers also will be getting out of their cars to be more available to airport employees and travelers, and kiosks will be in the center of each terminal to make it more convenient for people to report suspicions.

People are less able to pass on potentially valuable information when an officer is driving by at 15 m.p.h., Shehan said.

"It will let you get to know the police and let the police know you," he said.

The public can make a difference in solving the periodic motor-vehicle burglary sprees the airport has experienced, Shehan said. In 1996, 171 such burglaries were reported, he said.

More than 626 thefts and 93 assaults were reported in and near terminals last year, Shehan said.

"I'm excited about getting into a method of policing that I've always believed could accomplish more when you interface with the community, whether it be an airport community or a city," Shehan said.

In about two months, bicycle officers will begin day and evening patrols of terminal parking garages, and warehouses and freight areas.

Less noisy and conspicuous than when in cars, officers on bicycles will be more likely to catch criminals in the act, Shehan said.

The department has bought six mountain bikes, and a group of officers has been selected from about 15 volunteers.

"We've got them on a waiting list for when we expand," Capt. Jack Woodman said of those who weren't selected. The move to community policing "is probably one of the most positive things I've seen in the department in a long time."